DOR Radiator Not Available in US
#21
10-04-2015, 12:10 AM
What year is your car??? Those should be warranted for 15 years/ 150k miles. If in warranty, shouldn't the dealer provide a rental or loaner car??
After reading about DOR for the first time, i find it funny that you buy a car with a technology that has absolutely nothing to do with your vehicles operation, but rather california capitalizes on and uses you to clean their air as you drive. They make sure you don't take it off by adding a sensor to verify you're doing your part to clean the environment.
Personally i think if these things are supposed to last 15 years 150k miles, then that should have been enough. Place them on your car, but with no sensor. By 15 years and 150k miles, cars are pretty worn out and not used much. Just adds more headaches to poorer people who have to buy older cars and can't afford these technologies. By 15 years, new cars will be light years ahead in emissions, so anything from that era is a smog machine relative to new cars.
EMPRO? PremAir® Catalysts - BASF Catalysts - The Global Leader in Catalysis
After reading about DOR for the first time, i find it funny that you buy a car with a technology that has absolutely nothing to do with your vehicles operation, but rather california capitalizes on and uses you to clean their air as you drive. They make sure you don't take it off by adding a sensor to verify you're doing your part to clean the environment.
Personally i think if these things are supposed to last 15 years 150k miles, then that should have been enough. Place them on your car, but with no sensor. By 15 years and 150k miles, cars are pretty worn out and not used much. Just adds more headaches to poorer people who have to buy older cars and can't afford these technologies. By 15 years, new cars will be light years ahead in emissions, so anything from that era is a smog machine relative to new cars.
EMPRO? PremAir® Catalysts - BASF Catalysts - The Global Leader in Catalysis
Where is it stated that the radiator is covered for 15 years/ 150 K miles?
#22
10-04-2015, 09:25 AM
http://www.arb.ca.gov/msprog/warranty.pdf
Outside of california, you have a normal radiator, which does nothing for emissions and is only covered under the factory powertrain warranty.
#23
10-04-2015, 06:57 PM
To be specific, DOR radiators have a special coating which cleans the air while you drive. They're only in california i believe. The warranty for california emissions related defects is here:
http://www.arb.ca.gov/msprog/warranty.pdf
Outside of california, you have a normal radiator, which does nothing for emissions and is only covered under the factory powertrain warranty.
http://www.arb.ca.gov/msprog/warranty.pdf
Outside of california, you have a normal radiator, which does nothing for emissions and is only covered under the factory powertrain warranty.
#25
10-04-2015, 11:21 PM
Thanks for the great info. One last question: Who takes care of this warranty issue? Will me taking it to a Mitsu dealership for the repair be enough? Does the dealership do the paperwork?
#26
10-05-2015, 08:00 AM
Any mitsu dealership should be able to take care of it. No paperwork or anything for you to fill out. Just make an appointment, tell them what you think is broken. They have to look at it and assess what needs replaced.
#27
10-05-2015, 10:58 PM
Thanks for all the help. My car is listed as PZEV, I'm going to take it into the dealer on Wednesday so they can inspect it and hopefully start the long wait for a radiator.
#28
02-03-2016, 09:08 AM
I had a leak develop in my DOR radiator and I don't live in a state where Mitsu will honor their emmisions warranty, and the DOR radiator was unavailable, so I got creative with a standard radiator (from amazon) and re-mounting the old sensor on it.
Basically, I surgically removed the sensor from the leaky radiator by cutting the metal band that holds it on and soldering a wire across the contacts that band snaps into (read below for more detail).
1. Cut the metal strap from the front side of the radiatior under the little foam bit that protects the metal band. You have to cut the band in the corners (I used a die grinder, and did a lot more cutting than you really need to, but this was exploratory surgery) and cut into the radiator material a bit due to the way it's designed, refer to red dotted line in the photo. Once you cut it through, it can be pulled out from the back of the radiator.
2. Next I took a soldering gun and ran it along the sides of the metal strap to melt away the plastic where the green metal strap plugs into the plastic sensor, refer to the orange boxes in the photo. This needs to be done in all 4 places.
3. Once the plastic is removed, the metal strap can be carefully removed by lifting it up and out of the area(s) you just excavated. (resist the urge to pull the straps out the way they went in, you'll probably damage the metal teeth that hold them in there...we need to preserve those)
4. If you carefully wipe away the gel sealant that you have just exposed, you will see a metal saw tooth coming out of the sensor body. Those teeth are used to hold the strap in AND THEY ALSO COMPLETE THE CIRCUIT OF THE TEMPERATURE SENSOR THROUGH THE METAL BAND. (anti-tamper feature)
5. Find a piece of scrap wire, at least 18 AWG I'd say, and cut and strip it such that it can be soldered to all 4 of the little metal sawtooth contacts. The sawteeth readily accept solder. (The metal band material can't be soldered and it's very difficult to weld...I tried everything!!)
6. Once the wire is soldered across all 4 contacts, seal it up with a bit of silicone sealant or equivalent.
7. Install the modified sensor in the same location on the radiator it was before (so it fits through the fan shroud) using a few zip ties.
8. Plug it in and complete the rest of re-assembly. Ta-da!!! No engine light!!!
9. Buy yourself a beer with the hundreds of dollars you saved in the cost of a DOR radiator/renting a car because you can't pass inspection/etc.
Basically, I surgically removed the sensor from the leaky radiator by cutting the metal band that holds it on and soldering a wire across the contacts that band snaps into (read below for more detail).
1. Cut the metal strap from the front side of the radiatior under the little foam bit that protects the metal band. You have to cut the band in the corners (I used a die grinder, and did a lot more cutting than you really need to, but this was exploratory surgery) and cut into the radiator material a bit due to the way it's designed, refer to red dotted line in the photo. Once you cut it through, it can be pulled out from the back of the radiator.
2. Next I took a soldering gun and ran it along the sides of the metal strap to melt away the plastic where the green metal strap plugs into the plastic sensor, refer to the orange boxes in the photo. This needs to be done in all 4 places.
3. Once the plastic is removed, the metal strap can be carefully removed by lifting it up and out of the area(s) you just excavated. (resist the urge to pull the straps out the way they went in, you'll probably damage the metal teeth that hold them in there...we need to preserve those)
4. If you carefully wipe away the gel sealant that you have just exposed, you will see a metal saw tooth coming out of the sensor body. Those teeth are used to hold the strap in AND THEY ALSO COMPLETE THE CIRCUIT OF THE TEMPERATURE SENSOR THROUGH THE METAL BAND. (anti-tamper feature)
5. Find a piece of scrap wire, at least 18 AWG I'd say, and cut and strip it such that it can be soldered to all 4 of the little metal sawtooth contacts. The sawteeth readily accept solder. (The metal band material can't be soldered and it's very difficult to weld...I tried everything!!)
6. Once the wire is soldered across all 4 contacts, seal it up with a bit of silicone sealant or equivalent.
7. Install the modified sensor in the same location on the radiator it was before (so it fits through the fan shroud) using a few zip ties.
8. Plug it in and complete the rest of re-assembly. Ta-da!!! No engine light!!!
9. Buy yourself a beer with the hundreds of dollars you saved in the cost of a DOR radiator/renting a car because you can't pass inspection/etc.
Last edited by tvguy2005; 02-03-2016 at 12:09 PM. Reason: fix the pic and typo
#30
02-03-2016, 10:01 AM
No, they don't...I called and talked to a few people with Mitsu Warranty claims and they said that if the vehicle is not registered in a CA emissions state, then they won't cover it.